Kristen just put out a second call for hosts of our semi-annual array of Coffee Hours. This is noteworthy because the list of locations is already quite impressive. Though details are still in the planning stage, students have volunteered to meet with potential applicants, enrolling students, and anyone else who wants to talk Fletcher in:

No matter how much time the Admissions staff spends on the road, there are always a zillion locations that we don’t reach each year. To plug some of those gaps, our best ambassadors — our students — have volunteered to meet you over coffee. You can find the list of sites on our website. (Sites and details still being added.) Sign up, and take advantage of the chance to chat with a student in a casual setting over your preferred hot beverage.

Are you in Nairobi, Dakar, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, New York, San Francisco, Bangalore, Delhi, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Seoul, Colombo, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Beirut, Lausanne, Istanbul, or London? Yes? Then you’ll want to check our list of Coffee Hours to be hosted this summer by current students, and add the date to your calendar. Every year our students volunteer to meet up with incoming and prospective students in the locations where they are spending the summer. And this is a double win, because while the Admissions team will not be in Kathmandu (or most of these cities) this year, prospective students there still have the opportunity to connect with Fletcher from the convenience of their hometowns.

So note the date and time of the Coffee Hour near you, and look forward to talking Fletcher over your preferred hot beverage.

While we’re celebrating the U.S. Independence Day (July 4th) holiday, I encourage you to check the schedule of Coffee Hours around the world. Don’t wait until you’ve missed the Coffee Hour nearest you! If you need further convincing, consider this email report from Michael, the newly graduated MIB student who hosted the Minneapolis coffee hour this week:

Hi Christine and Kristen,

I am happy to report a 100% turnout at the Coffee Hour here in Minneapolis. We had a great conversation! We talked much longer than expected, but there was so much Fletcher excitement in the air — how could we stop? Some highlights included:

♦ Scott Snyder (MIB 14) joined us, as he just happened to be in town, stopping over in Minneapolis during his summer-long cross-country charity bike tour.
♦ One applicant’s grandparents were Fletcherites, and wanted to learn what the school was like today. (His grandparents attended in the 1950s.)
♦ One applicant’s father went to Tufts and sang the praises of Fletcher.
♦ Another applicant had been on the Fletcher email list since her freshman year of college.

All the best from the Midwest!
Michael

I hope the prospect of sharing coffee with others who share your interests will send you flying to the Coffee Hour sign-up page. Meanwhile, the Admissions Office will reopen tomorrow, following the holiday.

With many many details yet to be filled in, our list of upcoming Coffee Hours is ready to share! These are informal events, organized by current Fletcher students or recent alums who have volunteered to select a convenient time and location to chat with incoming students, prospective applicants, and others who want to join in. The list includes every city in which plans for a Coffee Hour are in the works. Click on the city nearest you and sign up! Note that, if the city name is not a link to a sign-up page, it means we haven’t yet nailed down details with the Coffee Hour host. In that case, please check back throughout the coming weeks for more information. Our Coffee Hour hosts are looking forward to meeting future students!

In Bangkok? Join a Fletcher student for coffee tonight. Or, if you’re in Istanbul, have a Turkish coffee with a student tomorrow (Wednesday) night. The Coffee Hours are off and perking, with Frankfurt rounding out the first week.

(Note that we used to call these events Summer Coffee Hours, but in recognition that it’s winter in many Coffee Hour locations, we’ve gone season-neutral.)

Not sure whether you should attend a Coffee Hour? Thinking that you haven’t researched your grad school options enough? Or maybe you’ve researched them too much? Or even that you’re an admitted student, so what could be gained? Fear not! These are super casual conversations that can range from Fletcher’s curricular offerings to where to find a good burrito near Tufts. There’s no set agenda — just a conversation between prospective grad school classmates. I hope you’ll want to join in, wherever you are!

Kristen has been hard at work recruiting students who would like to meet prospective applicants wherever they’re spending the summer. This “coffee hour” model has been really successful, enabling us to extend Fletcher’s reach in a simple (and enjoyable) way. Check out the growing list of cities, and book yourself in. Note that if the city name is not yet linked to a sign-up page, we’re still ironing out details — check back again soon! We’ll also post updates on the Admissions facebook page whenever we add locations or times.

Once you sign up, you just wait for the day, head on over, pick up a cup of coffee, and learn more about Fletcher from our best ambassadors — our students!

Is summer a good time to visit Fletcher? Well…truth be told, it’s not optimal. But there are plenty of people for whom summer is the only opportunity to visit. If that’s you, come on over — we’ll do our best to provide a warm welcome! We’ll be offering Information Sessions most Mondays from June 4 to August 6, and we have just hired two new interns who can answer your questions about the student experience. You can also arrange an evaluative interview.

What we don’t have a lot of is classes to attend. Or buzz. It’s crazy quiet here in the summer. But a summer visit is better than no visit, so check out the list of sessions and sign up for the one that’s convenient for you.

Meanwhile, I just finished talking to Kristen, who updated me on plans for this summer’s Coffee Hours. She put out the call yesterday, and within minutes (in that wonderful Fletcher way), 25 students had offered to host a coffee in their far-flung locations this summer. Kristen will finalize the plans in the next few weeks, and then you’ll be invited to sign up for a coffee near you.

Vacationing students kept busy on their winter breaks by hosting coffee hours. Extending the reach of the community, we’re thrilled at how successful the coffee hours have been. Here are a few reports from the hosts.

MA student Aaron drank coffee in Portland.
I hosted my coffee hour at the Public Domain in Portland, Oregon. Seeing as how it was on the West Coast of the U.S., some of the folks who attended drove an hour or two to make it, including me. I was expecting three prospective students, but five showed up and a few folks stopped by my table to check out the brochures and Fletcher name tent I had set up.

The biggest question from my prospective applicants was about the Fletcher “profile.” Not an easy answer, since I’d say there isn’t one — we’ve got musicians, engineers, athletes, lawyers, military officers, journalists, NGO/Peace Corps volunteers, etc. Your studies and experience are what count, not where you’re from or what you look like. Another important point of discussion concerned what people do after Fletcher, and my suggestion was to check the list of Prominent Alumni on Wikipedia — you can get a pretty good idea of the alumni network and career fields, and where you think they fit in with your personal goals.

LLM student Chris drank his coffee in Berlin, Germany.
My coffee hour took place in the center of Berlin, at Café Humboldterrassen overlooking the Berlin Dome and the Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The island’s most famous museum, the Pergamon Museum, shares something important with Fletcher — it was completed in 1933, just when our school was founded. Three people showed up at the gathering, including Tufts alum. After a brief introduction, I kicked off the evening with some insights from campus life and what makes our school a very special one. And to be sure, sitting there, telling the others about Fletcher made me realize once again what an extraordinary experience it is to be part of the Fletcher community. Where else can you have breakfast with a Pakistani, lunch with a Kenyan, go for dinner with a French student, and party with a Chinese, all while your Australian study group fellow is complaining about the winter weather?

MALD student Kate and MIB student Michael joined forces to drink coffee in Minneapolis.
Kate reports, “We had a great group of engaged, curious prospective students, including a sophomore in college. Pretty impressive to see a young Fletcherite in training. I really enjoyed sharing our personal stories about how we chose Fletcher, as it reminded me yet again why this is the place for me. It made me excited and anxious to get back to campus.”

And Michael added that, “Nearly the entire groups of six prospective students stayed for the full two hours. I’ve fielded several follow-up questions from individuals and have made introductions to other Fletcher students as well.”

Sooyeon met students in Seoul.
I took my laptop with me to the Fletcher Coffee Hour, Seoul edition, half expecting to keep myself busy for the next two hours. To my pleasant surprise, the first prospective student introduced herself three minutes before the scheduled start time, and five others joined her soon thereafter. The students didn’t come and go, they came and stayed. Most of the visitors were in the process of finishing up their application (as the deadline was less than two weeks away), but some were considering applying to Fletcher a year or two in the future. They came with many questions, and as I was sharing my personal experience and views of Fletcher, it was a pleasant reminder to me that Fletcher was where I belonged. For those who came to learn more about Fletcher, I hope I was able to offer some insights that may not come across while looking at a web page, and I hope they were able to gauge whether Fletcher is a good fit for them.

Uninterested in a complete break from Fletcher, our students have once again leaped forward to offer some of their vacation time to meet with prospective students over a cup of coffee. We experimented with the Coffee Hours last summer, decided they were a big hit, and are excited to be able to connect current and future students again.

There’s a loooooong list of locations for the coffee hours. Check it out on our web site.